From data breaches to widespread systemic shutdowns, cyberattacks like the 2024 Fulton County (Georgia) government attack now occur as regularly as natural disasters — and cause just as much destruction. And, like severe weather, they can be predicted thanks to a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that analyzes social media to determine who could cause the next big cyberattack.
Researchers in Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, together with colleagues at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. (UDC), developed a chatbot that analyzed sentiment on popular social media sites like X (formerly known as Twitter) to determine cyberthreats. The chatbot tweeted information to engage Twitter users who either tweeted about news events or holidays, or retweeted cyberattack news. It interacted with 100,000 users over a three-month period. Sentiment analysis — gauging users’ feelings, attitudes, and moods— was performed on human responses to the bot’s tweets.
Applying sentiment analysis to human-chatbot interactions is not new. Globally, companies use chatbots to determine customers’ reactions to brands and products. During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments and health organizations employed chatbots to determine public attitudes toward vaccinations, preventive measures, and mask wearing. However, identifying potential cyberthreats via sentiment analysis represents a unique — and complicated — application.
Continue reading: New Chatbot Can Spot Cyberattacks Before They Start
